The Greenville times. [volume] (Greenville, Miss.) 1868-1917, 1887-12-31
Low Thermometer.
Ist. Louis Dispatch.l


ed the lowest temperature ever OBJ
served within the bounds of eiViliza-
ton. His name is George \. Garden
and he was on his way from Lamar,
No., to Chicago, where he win act as
assistant observer in the Signal Office
1t was on New Years morning. 1885,
that Mr.. Garden, then the Signal Ser
vice observer at Poplar River, Mon
tana. sent on the solitary telegraphic
wire that connected him with the
world outside this brief but startling
announcement:
Temperature GIL degrees below
zero
Mr.. Garden was succeeded by Yer
don p. Chapel, now observer in charge
at the st. Louis station. The two were
swapping "reminiscences of that frigid
region, to which the inexorableness of
military discipline had at one time
banished them, when a Post-Dispatch
reporter joined them.
"You haven't forgotten the coldest
day of your life, Mr.. Carden?" asked
the reporter.
"Well, hardly said he, and he gave
a suggestive twist to his coat collar.
Il never shall, either,' he went on. Il
came nearer freezing to death than |
ever want to again.
Weren't you in the Signal station
at the timei'
Yes, was,' he answered, and then
both the Signal men laughed sarcastic
cally. "The station, you must under
stand, was simply cabin, ten by
twelve. made Of cottonwood logs, pin
ned together, the chinks being plaster
ed with mud. The roof also was mud
and the floor was formed of cotton
wood boards, which, having been put
down green, had shrunk till they left
cracks which would easily swallow up
the legs of the only chair in the station.
The only thing that made the room
habitable was the fact that the hut had
been banked up with dirt that reached
up half way to the roof.
SIN that little room went to bed
on the night of Dec. 81, 1884. The bed
was in arms length of big drum
stove, large enough to receive four
foot cord wood, as we dare not get out
in the cold to keep up the fire. | had
begun observations at the place Il year
before, Dec. II, 1883, and was not
much surprised on retiring the last
night of 1884 to find the spirit in the
official thermometer down in the
neighborhood of so degrees below.
had often recorded 80 degrees below
before, but thought that night before
retiring that pretty low temperature
would be reached, as the air was pain
fully still and the stars looked brighter
and nearer than ever. | tossed al
night trying to keep warm. 1t seemed
as cold as the outer air. Upon me
had piled covering equivalent to TWEEN
ty thicknesses of blankets. Army
blankets, buffalo robes, buffalo coats
cloth coats, everything in the shape Of
protection, was heaped upon my little
bed, yet still | shivered under it all
No one can form an idea of the cold
that night. had to wear my heaviest
mittens and my sealskin cap was pulled
down over my cars.'
"Once reached my bare hand out
of the bed to throw another stick OF
wood on the fire, and before | could
get the wood in my hand was so be-
numbed that | had to drop the stick
Mind you, all this time the fire was
roaring and cracking.
Well, at last the night wore away
and about o'clock ! guess II was, |
got up. | didn't have to dress, though
but just slipped on my big buffalo
shoes and made for the minimum ther-
mometer. There the alcohol spirit was
on the one-tenth mark below the 62
degree mark. When | saw that my
heart jumped fast enough to warm me
little, as knew that no other ther-
mometer except mine had ever gone so
low, except in Arctic exploration.
That remarkable degree of cold was
reached just about sunrise. / never
saw the air SO cold as it was that morn
ing. The atmosphere itself seemed
frozen, and my eve could see further
down the white snow-glistening prai-
ries than it ever had before. There
was not a sound to break the stiffness
and felt like the Arctic explorer who
stands in the silence of the eternal
SHOWS. The only thing that bound me
to civilization was the smoke that came
up from the distant army post, for [
S. troops are stationed there to watel
the Indians. That day the tempcra
ture rose TO about 80 degrees below
and four days later it rained. In thos'
four days the range was 100 degrees
the greatest range ever recorded.
"Was any lower temperature eve
recorded?"
Yes, but only in the Arctic region
by Greely, and his lowest reading wa
only ninc-tenths ofa degree lower thai
mine. Mount Washington, which j
considered the coolest place in tn
United States, has recorded as low a
1922 degrees. II is hard to conceive o